Vietnam: Sidewalk Culture

I risk losing any credibility I might have by gushing over and over about how ‘fascinated’ I am by one aspect or another of Vietnamese culture, but I can’t help it. The scooters zipping around Saigonclearlygotmyattention. And how could I not be obsessed with the myriad banh mi carts serving up any number of variations of pork on pork deliciousness?
Similarly, how could I not be fascinated by the sidewalk culture we saw there. Day and night, people sat out on little plastic stools talking, eating and generally gathering with their communities.

Often these were built around one or several food carts, but just as often they were just a few people lounging with their families watching the world go by.
On an early morning cab ride to the airport, we past a few set up and full of people before dawn.
Without getting into saccharine ideas of authenticity, part of what struck me about these sidewalk stalls was how entirely unconstructed it was. It’s a display of real local life, food and culture that’s not part of a show for visitors, it’s just the way things are. I have no idea if that makes any sense, but it really drew me in both as a traveler and as a photographer.